Powerman 5000 - New Wave album review

The silly side of industrial metal

Cover art for Powerman 5000 - New Wave album

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There’s a song on this eleventh album from this Boston industrial crew (fronted by Rob Zombie’s little brother, Spider One) called Sid Vicious In A Dress, a high-octane love song to a hot mess on the road to self-destruction, that sums up everything you need to know about Powerman 5000. While musically they offer up a pounding blast of noise, lyrically they have their tongue firmly in their cheek. At least we hope they do, since they follow that up with David Fucking Bowie, a tribute of sorts imploring us to dance like the great man, gleefully mangling his Space Oddity in the process. Which makes attempts at seriousness like No White Flags a little jarring.

Like your industrial metal with a side order of high camp? Then step right up.

Emma has been writing about music for 25 years, and is a regular contributor to Classic Rock, Metal Hammer, Prog and Louder. During that time her words have also appeared in publications including Kerrang!, Melody Maker, Select, The Blues Magazine and many more. She is also a professional pedant and grammar nerd and has worked as a copy editor on everything from film titles through to high-end property magazines. In her spare time, when not at gigs, you’ll find her at her local stables hanging out with a bunch of extremely characterful horses.